One of the Cabinet Declaration top priorities was to find remedies to traffic congestion, a major concern for citizens in their daily life. This is how the Beirut Water Taxi concept was brought to life.

Dr. Khaled Taki, who came up with the idea, considered that having recourse to sea transportation was an optimum solution for traffic issues in Lebanon, given the speed with which it could be implemented. Developing the project shouldn’t take more than a year.

The prospective main water taxi station is the Port of Beirut, substations being the Ports of Tripoli, Sidon, Tyr, Jounieh, and Jbeil.

“Two kinds of tickets are being considered. The first is a monthly ticket sold in dedicated station booths and destined to peak hour transportation outside Beirut, from 6:30 AM to 9:00 AM and from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM.

The second one is an off-peak ticket – for times where traffic is more fluid. It doesn’t cost more than the regular fare of a “service” cab.

Tickets would be purshased at station booths. Rides shouldn’t take more than 55 minutes for the longest, that is Tripoli-Beirut.

The project involves the following types of boats:

1-Shuttles: boats with a seating capacity of a bus.

2-Clippers: luxurious boats with a fare that is more expensive than the shuttles’

3-VIP Shuttles: just as land private taxicabs, they move upon passengers’ request and for the same fare.

Regarding the safety measures taken to avert sea hazards, Mr Taki said:“Protecting passengers safety requires that every taxi driver be holder of a marine driver’s license from New York or London.

Boat maintenance would be entrusted to foreign experts who will instruct a Lebanese team and train them before leaving the country.”

As to navigation, it would be inshore all along the coast to avoid accidents on stormy days, when waves are high.

Taki said the boats wouldn’t only be assigned to intraterritorial transportation - including touristic transportation, their function would encompass neighbouring countries. Trips will include transportation of tourists from Lebanon to neighbouring countries such as Syria and Turkey, signees to a prospective water transportation agreement.

Khaled Taki, who put forward the whole concept, said to Lebanese newspaper “Sada-el-Baalad” it would take too long to widen our roads, especially with the increasing number of cars jamming them. This is how he came to conclude that we should use the sea for local interregional transportation.

Students should expect to get a 50% discount and the elderly will be the main beneficiaries: they would travel for free off-peak.

Furthermore, the Water Taxi project is going to create new job opportunities for the Lebanese, and feature renowned cafés and shops in the waiting rooms. The latter will be equipped with screens displaying departure times.